u/nycnaiad

I don’t necessarily mean the sets with the “best” fragrances. I’m curious about the ones that were fun to explore, surprising, beautifully curated, useful for figuring out your taste, introduced you to houses you wouldn’t have tried otherwise, or just had a range that made the whole experience memorable.

In the past year, I’ve been having a lot of fun exploring sample sets that feel more curated or surprising. A few recent sample-set experiences for context:

Olfactif’s “12 Scents - 12 Months” mystery pack has been especially fun because it was truly a mystery. I’m trying things I probably would have skipped if I were choosing for myself, and I’ve loved the full surprise factor. One sample in particular was exactly the kind of thing I normally hate. When I saw it, I was basically ready to scrub it off immediately. Instead, it surprised me in the best possible way. I wasn’t hunting for a new summer scent or planning to fall for anything, but now it’s definitely going to be one of my go-to summer scents.

I also tried a custom Heretic discovery set and loved that you can build it yourself. It was weird and fun, and a few of them had notes or little twists that took the fragrance somewhere I didn’t expect. I enjoyed the whole experience enough that I went back and built a second custom set.

The Misc. Goods Co. discovery set was really interesting too. I loved it conceptually and aesthetically. The scents were atmospheric and evocative reminding me of specific places and memories. They’re not really something I’d wear myself, but I’d absolutely love to smell them on a guy I was dating.

I’d love to hear what discovery/sample sets ended up being memorable for other people too. What made them stand out?