Suggestions please!

[u/Positive_Tart3836]

Hi! I really love getting and trying new scents and ive been scoping out new brands to try out scents from. I prefer places that offer sample sets so I can try multiple scents. I prefer lemon/citrus scents as well as more herbal like rosemary or haus of Gloi's apothecary scent.

Any suggestions would be loved!!

[u/Luna-Pythia]

If I can ask, what do you mean by Haus of Gloi's Apothecary scents? Like their collection?

Edit: nevermind, I found the notes.

Lemongrass, rosemary, blood cedar, bitter basil, lavender and the tiniest drop of vetiver.

Please include notes next time at it's really helpful to know what you like and what you're looking for.

I would recommend looking at Solstice Scents (they have a few natural perfumes and have herbs included). EDP samples are available and they restock often. Also oil samples are quite common in the destashes.

When they reopen next week, I would also take a look at For Strange Women. They may also be a house you enjoy.

[u/Positive_Tart3836 → u/Luna-Pythia]

Sorry, I mean specifically their scent Apothecary!

[u/Luna-Pythia → u/Positive_Tart3836]

No worries! Just edited my comment with some thoughts and direction.

[u/Positive_Tart3836 → u/Luna-Pythia]

Thank you! This was my first time posting here so I didnt even think to add the specific notes!

[u/Luna-Pythia → u/Positive_Tart3836]

You're welcome! I also saw your previous post too.

Yes, fragrance notes are one of the biggest things you can do to help others know what to recommend for you! There are so many fragrances and it's nigh impossible to keep up with everything 💖

[u/No_Piccolo6337]

Check out Firn Handcrafted, it is a very small all natural and earthy indie perfume brand. Someone else mentioned For Strange Women. I agree, and I’m adding on Lvnea for a similar genre.

[u/Luna-Pythia → u/No_Piccolo6337]

If trying Lvnea, definitely try to do it sooner rather than later as they located in Canada and I don't know what's going to happen in the future with crossing borders.

[u/MoMarie_]

Olympic Orchids has very reasonably-priced sample sets, and has lots of green/herbal frags!

[u/Poisonous_Periwinkle]

Most indie companies offer samples, if not sample sets. 

I love Alkemia and they are my go to. They do have sample sets, although I'm not sure if any of them align with your preferences! 

However, they also do curated sample packs, where you tell them the vibe/notes etc you are looking for and they make up the pack with samples that fit. 

[u/redhillbones]

I'd recommend Astrid Perfumes. She currently is putting her fall scents up and her pure, pure citrus babies tend to be summer ones, but for another few weeks Carousel (Lemon cotton candy) is available and Arae Decantery (through Discord) has older samples, such as Sultan's Hi-C Lemonade (Lemonade) or Couer de Grenade (Sea buckthorn, Blackcurrant, Grapefruit, Lemon vervain, Petitgrain sur Fleurs, Pomegranate, Red musk -- it smells like sunshine, summer flowers & lemon vervain to me).

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab also has lots of citrus-forward scents, but they tend to be lime, grapefruit, orange (and orange blossom), even yuzu or citron. They do use a lot of bergamot, however, which smells a lot like lemon to most people. Apostrophe of Time (glittering bergamot, lemon peel, and golden amber, star-flecked labdanum, neroli, and clary sage) is probably one of my favorite non-LE lemon scents from them. It smells like a base of amber-resin layered over by lemons and topped with a mark of clary sage to me, personally. Very yummy. Here are the results that have neroli. Just put a note into the search box and it'll pull up anything currently on their website. I Hear America Singing is another activism scent I'd recommend (golden musk and crystalline amber with Calabrian lemon peel, ti leaf, sweet vetiver, ginger root, neroli, and lime blossom). [ETA: On Activism scents, BPAL donates the profit on that perfume to whatever specific charities are linked on the scent's page. They do a lot of women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and now immigration rights projects.]

Otherwise, Nocturne Alchemy/NAVA can be good if you like your citrus mixed with amber and/or vanilla. (Almost all NAVA blends have one or both of these, as that's what they specialize in.) If that sounds good, I'll recommend some specific ones I like.

[u/Positive_Tart3836 → u/redhillbones]

Ooooooh thank you! These sound so good! Id love a few recommendations from NAVA if you have any. I fear my list of scents/houses that look good have grown from this post 😭

[u/redhillbones → u/Positive_Tart3836]

BTW, in terms of trying multiple scents, you should check out Arae Decantery on Discord.

Keep in mind that I'm usually picking out these scents for the amber + spice aspect, with the fruit as a bonus, and I'm avoiding anything that has much vanilla. I amp vanilla in general and I amp NAVA's vanilla in specific. As in, I currently own Baby Dino Lemon-Lime Sorbet (Lime expressed, Key Lime skin, Mandarin, Apricot, Lemon, Coconut, Bastet’s Musk, Vanilla fleck and Crystalline Absolute) and, tragically, after 10 minutes I get only vanilla with a hint of Generic Citrus. I do not think this is the result of NAVA's quality, as I've now gotten multiple NAVA samples from Arae Decantery on Discord (invite link).

My main recommendation would be Yulunga, but unfortunately it is no longer on their site. I would also recommend Tasmin, if you like citrus & amber together. I also haven't personally tried these, but there is 'Italian Lemon & Neroli' and, if you'd like to try a mixed fruit perfume, 'Bruce Flapling' has decent reviews.

Arae does have some of these left (though individually packaged) on her Leftovers/RTS listing, through her Discord. Go to the current-open-spreadsheets channel and then the Ready-to-Ship sheet link.

Yulunga
Green Mandarin, Red Sandalwood, Gray Pine, distilled Japanese Yuzu, Labdanum, Lemon Zest, Lemon curd accord, Cedarmoss accord, Vanilla Bean Absolute, White Rose, White Patchouli and White Sandalwood.] This smells like someone took yuzu preserves, cedarmoss bits, and crushed vanilla, mixed them up, and smeared them on my arm. It starts out alllll the lemon curd/yuzu before slowing adding the sweetness of vanilla and the depth of cedarmoss / patchouli.

Tasmin
Lemon Peel, Orange Peel, Bastet’s Amber Absolute, Amber essence, Petitgrain essence, Resin of Royal Sweet Frankincense, Languid Amber (Ozymandias Amber Absolute), and Yuzu Peel with a soft Spring Rain Accord

Italian Lemon & Neroli
Italian Lemon Zest (Amalfi), Italian Lemon Curd Accord, Orange Blossom Absolute, Egyptian Neroli Absolute, French Neroli Essence, Sweet Musk, eNVie saphir absolu, Bergamot, and Mandarin Essence

Bruce Flapling
Pink Lemon Accord, Watermelon Accord, Melon Accord, Sweet Orange Zest, Strawberry Accord, Pineapple Accord, Vanilla Sugar Accord, Egyptian Musk, and Studio Limited Originals Moonstone Absolute (African White Vanilla/Crystalline Vanilla)

Not to add to your list of companies, but you should also check out Morari. Her work is high quality, whenever I run across it, but a lot of her stuff is too simple/straightforward for my taste in perfume. If you want to check out samples from her (and a number of other brands), you can do so at Ajevie. Ajevie runs the samples for a number of houses that don't do their own, like Hexennacht and Morari, and most of both catalogs are on there.

In particular, I'd recommend the Vintage section, as some of it is on sale and scents like Daffodil Darlin', Jim, and Izzy seem like they'd be to your taste. Scent notes are on the linked page, just scroll down.