Niche perfume brands are increasing more and more their participation in the market, but very few of them offer sample sizes to try them out, many times we do have to go to specialised perfumes stores that we have to be honest if you are not in London (or any big city) you would find it a bit complicated and in some cases expensive to get there, another factor is how many fragrances we can properly try in one go till our nose lose track of everything. There are so many brands, many olfactory families, notes, sillage, etc that trying to select one is basically a really a hard work
Well luckily I managed to discover Sommelier du Parfum, a Paris-based fragrance discovery platform that makes niche perfume picking easy, what you basically do is getting into their website and start a selecting your preferences.
Once you complete answering the questions the platform would show you different options and brands to choose from, at the same time you can apply some filters if you wish to be more specific as you can imagine there are plenty of gorgeous options to try out.
When it comes to niche fragrances we normally tend to think about expensive options as normally niche perfumery tend to have a high price tag but is not always like that, there many brands that are affordable and that’s another good thing about this site you can use the filter to get options that would suit your budget.
Seasons, I personally use any perfume at any time depending of my mood but I do get it when people prefer certain fresher and lighter options for the summer and more heavy ones for the cold months, well this option of filter by season is available on the site so if you right now you just want to have a look at fresher fragrances you can easy do it. Same situation if you are looking for an everyday fragrance easy to wear at work, if you are looking for options to go out or special occasions or just all purpose. Talking about a fragrance purpose I consider this service a great way for any woman or man who is looking for a special fragrance for the wedding day, because I swear in all the years I have been testing and reviewing fragrances I have seen so many women looking and trying so many fragrances hoping to find something special for that day only, after all olfactory memory is a real thing and no one wants an ordinary, average and simple fragrance that every one uses for that special day.
There are other filters like universes and what kind of experience or where would you like to go with a perfume. Depending on the options you chose you would get the results with different fragrances from many brands. You get the chance to select 5 of them that would come in a 5 sample size vials in a personalized discovery kit, the service costs £17 but you get that £17 back when you purchase the full size of any perfume on the website.
You can also just look at the large selection and add manually the samples you want to try out on your kit.
Now in my personalized kit I got some brands that I knew other that were totally new to me and surprised me So I will briefly talk about them.
Cherry Punk by Room 1015: This one was my absolutely favorite, I never heard of Cherry Punk or the brand, This is a sweet cherry leathery scent in my opinion 10 times better than Lost Cherry from Tom Ford, is sweet but like candy is more a mature cherry with vanilla tonka blended with leather, mimosa and jasmine. Is powerful I have to say quite long lasting and I haven’t sprayed much as I only had a sample but still, if you love cherry on perfumery, give it a go.
Tapis Volant by Les Liquides Imaginaries: I think I heard about this brand but never tried anything from them so my choice was Tapis Volant which is basically a a powdery Iris scent blended with sandalwood, spices, bergamot, jasmine and tonka bean. A great option for the summer, Is a inky powdery Iris that dries down more with the tonka and the sandalwood but never overwhelming it always remains clean and fresh. Very long lasting and a good option for everyday use.
Rose Magnetic by Essential Parfums: I couldn’t not include a rose scent and again another brand that I never heard of before and this was a huge discovery too, Rose Magnetic has notes of Turkish rose, litchi, grapefruit, tonka bean, vanilla, mint and cedar. Is a refreshing delicate soft rose, is not offensive but at the same time is not boring or poor lasting like many recent releases I have tried. This is the kind of fragrance that has certain aphrodisiac effect, is strange probably is the blend of litchi and rose or the freshness, is not overwhelming it has a decent sillage and projection of 2 meters and duration of 8 hours, but from the moment you spray it is hard not to feel elegant and confident, is extremely feminine. How to say this is the perfume I would recommend for a wedding night, honey moon or if you have a date with a guy that you want to make an impression if not more!.
Villa Nellcote by 19-69: This is a citrusy option, ideal for the hot summer, it has sveral notes so I will only name a few like petitgrain, grapefruit, lemon blossom, Osmanthus, Black tea, Rose, Amber. Villa Nellcote is the perfect option for the citrus scent lovers, personally is not my favorite but I like to have an option for those days when I really need to feel refreshed, specially to go to work and is warm. This one lasted around 6 hours with a decent sillage, I think that is quite good as normally these type of scents tend to go away in less than an hour on my skin.
500 Years by Etat Libre d’Orange: I have never tried anything by Etat Libre d’Orange but I so badly wanted to, is a well established niche brand, was a hard choice but I went for 500 years, with notes of Bergamot HE, Cardamom Pure Jungle Essence, Saffron, Turkish Rose Absolute, Oud HE, Geranium Burbon HE, Amber Woods, Patchouli, Suede. 500 Years is a lovely Floral Woody Spicy fragrance with a enormous duration and projection, great sillage. It opens a bit citrusy but quickly it turns to a leathery rose with spicy cacao, is so unique and luxurious definitely a fragrance I would save for special occasions, you won’t find anything similar either the scent or the quality in the main street market, I absolutely love it.
Tenue de Soiree by Goutal: I actually got an extra vial for some reason and this one is from Goutal a brand that I knew but never paid much attention to try anything from them, Tenue de Soiree is an oriental gourmand fragrance with notes of Black currant, Bergamot, Iris, rose, Jasmine, Patchouli, Caramel, Leather and white musk, it opens up as powdery floral scent as it dries down it starts to intensify the blend of floral notes with the black currant towards the final oriental gourmand, nice sillage and projection with a decent duration of 6 hours on skin.
So far Sommelier du Parfum is a fantastic niche perfume discovery service, it guides you easily towards what scents are more suitable for you, it shows you the range you can choose from and you can actually select the samples you want for your personal discovery kit and later you can re use the £17 you paid for the kit to purchase the full size of any of the fragrances, it has a several amount of brands and they keep adding more, they deliver worldwide, I don’t know of any other online easy service that would offer the same.
Visit Sommelier du Parfum Website to discover the service
Feel free to leave any comments or questions!
Evelin x
PR Sample, non affiliate link
Pink Wall Blog 