#my favourite coping methods 1. buying perfume samples 2. watching youtube perfume videos 3. screaming into the void

[apriki]

Everything about this year sucks, but something you can do for yourself that will bring a little joy is to order some perfume samples! The pleasure of wandering down to your local department store and smelling the new perfumes isn't possible for a lot of us right now, which makes ordering samples even more appealing. It's a very easy process - the hardest thing you will have to do is research what perfumes you want to try! I highly recommend trying perfume samples, even over spraying on a blotter in store. You can't know how a perfume will perform - and more importantly, how it will perform on you - until you try it on skin. Samples are the perfect way to live with a scent for a week or two and really make sure you want to invest in it.

Sampling sites are also a great way to branch out further than designer scents and try some niche, indie, artisan or vintage perfumes.

*denotes sites or methods I myself have used and can vouch for. The rest are quite popular in the wider fragrance community and have strong recommendations.

theperfumedcourt* is the best overall sample site with the widest range. They are also the most expensive. i have purchased from them many times, and they're excellent! they have a wider range of designer, niche, and celebrity brands. I love their themed packs based on a note (I bought the pomegranate packs years ago, loved it). Shipping takes ages to get to me but i AM half a world away. they do a black friday sale every year. SHIPS WORLDWIDE

luckyscent* is the best site for niche perfumery. They have a lot of more obscure, artisan and indie brands - this is the site for when you’re in the deep deep of perfume love. They never do sales but they have a standard 20% off $100. SHIPS WORLDWIDE

surrendertochance* they are expensive but they have many hard to find scents like the dior and armani privee exclusive lines. They do specials all the time. SHIPS WORLDWIDE

perfumeniche* is a little Canadian decant store and i ADORE them! I got a big order from them for Christmas and I can't say enough good things about them. They sent me four complimentary samples as well! The Canadian dollar is also much more forgiving. Shipping took a while but again, I'm on the other side of the world. Their range is really impressive too! SHIPS WORLDWIDE

first in fragrance is a German site, very popular in Europe - probably the closest in scope to luckyscent. they have a lot of popular niche lines like creed and montale too. SHIPS EUROPE

notino. very popular european site with a huge range. SHIPS EUROPE

ebay*. Only go with 99% feedback stores and honestly, I would never buy a sample that didn't have free shipping (it's a tiny vial, come on.) but i have bought samples here and it all went very well. a great way to find vintage or hard to find scents - i ordered two samples from the chanel les exclusifs line (HARD to find) from ebay. you can also get bigger decants on ebay, like 5ml/10ml

the brand's own site*. Many (most) niche brands will do samples or a discovery set, often this is the most affordable way to sample a whole house. Le Labo has a very good in built sampling service, I've bought from them many times. i've also bought from sixteen92, imaginary authors, olympic orchids, etc etc.... if you're interested in a niche house, check out their site. zoologist i bought from a reseller but if i was in the US i would buy from their site. there are some houses on etsy too like alkemia and black phoenix alchemy lab.

many fragheads do decants/swaps on fragrantica/basenotes/facebook/reddit, but I have never done this so can't comment on it.

lknu**, LOVE them, their samples are a little expensive but they have samples for their ENTIRE stock (VERY rare), they stock a lot of great, great niche lines that i love or am interested in, free shipping!!!! and they always give me extra samples. highly rec if you’re in AUS/NZ/Asia; they are based in Melbourne! SHIPS WORLDWIDE

If you’re one of the lucky people who live in a country with Sephora, they may stock some of their perfume sample sets. These seem like great value for money and you should definitely check them out!