TL/DR: Over the last year or so, I’ve amassed a bonkers amount of perfume samples, and will be introducing them here. Feel free to skip down to learn about my reigning favorites, or read this post in its entirety for a bit of backstory about how this all came to be.
In the summer of 2024, for reasons I have yet to fully unpack, my subconscious told me that the time had come to be ~~Someone Who Wears Perfume~~
This wasn’t a choice made out of boredom, or the need to fill copious amounts of free time. I have a job, I have a family, I have many other interests like spying on the rabbits in my backyard, daydreaming about theme parks, and MLM-shaming (it is 2025, stop it).
And it’s not like I have a bunch of extra money just burning a hole in my pocket either. For all intents and purposes, the urge to become ~~Someone Who Wears Perfume~~ was very inconvenient. Maybe it came because of my age, or life stage, or the fact that my spouse does most of the cooking, so if he’s going to control how the kitchen smells, I’m going to control how I smell?
Anyway, regardless of one’s motivation, to become ~~Someone Who Wears Perfume~~ you have to own perfume, or at least have access to a department store so you can wander around the beauty counters and ask for spritzes. But then what are you going to do when they’re closed? I don’t live close enough to make this feasible anyway.
So, to start my quest, I spent an air-conditioned August afternoon sniffing and spraying dozens of tester bottles at my local Sephora with my then-7-year-old daughter.
We came home with three (3) travel-sized roller balls of perfume, and a bouquet of saturated sample strips. Two of those bottles launched the collection I now tend to like a garden; regularly checking up on every vial and bottle, making seasonal swaps, and sharing the latest developments with any friends and family who did—and did not—bother to ask.
The vast majority of what I have are teeny tiny samples that I probably will not buy bigger versions of. However! A select few have risen above the pack.
Without further ado, these are my reigning champions:
Favorite: Boardwalk Delight (Skylar)
From the marketing alone, I don’t think I’m the demographic that Skylar has their heart set on. But that’s okay! I may own zero (0!) crop tops, but I still love to smell like pure bliss.
Something strange happened when I smelled Boardwalk Delight for the first time. I had sniffed and sprayed at least 50 others (not a typo) before I picked up the bottle. And yet, this was the first and, to date, the only perfume I’ve smelled that gave me a completely visceral reaction.
There was no considering, no thinking, no checking the scent notes, no second spray. I didn’t even pull the bottle back from my nose. I smelled it, and a neon light in my brain automatically zapped on and said “YEP, THIS ONE.”
I love having a collection of perfumes, and mixing, matching, and layering them based on mood. But if I had to pick one perfume to rule them all, this would be it.
Boardwalk Delight won’t be for everyone, it’s ridiculously sweet. But aside from that, I have no other words of caution. The world would be a better place if we all smelled like this.
What the brand says:
- Top notes: Aquatic Accord, Watery Apple, Juicy Raspberry Sorbet
- Middle notes: Water Lily, Guava Flower, Coconut Milk
- Base notes: Cotton Candy, Vanilla, Solar Amber, Musk
What I think:
- Top Notes: Guilt-free pleasures
- Middle Notes: Disney World Hotel Lobby (after a long flight)
- Base Notes: Optimism, Contentment
Runner-up: Seville Orange (Nest New York)
I have never been to Spain, but one of my best friends in college studied abroad there, so I think the correct pronunciation of “Seville” is like “suh-vee-yah.” At least, that’s how it sounds in my head.
Speaking of college, imagine you’re a wide-eyed freshman who just pledged a sorority, and a bunch of the active members are taking you and your pledge sisters to Jamba Juice (before it was just Jamba), and you’ve just entered the store and gotten a blast of citrusy sweetness and air conditioning and something almost sherbet-y.
Now, combine that with the excitement of being a sorority pledge who might also be attending an event at the Pi Kappa Phi house that evening, and there you go. That’s the energy of Seville Orange.
I will say, a lot of Nest perfumes smell like an early aughts Jamba Juice to me, which may not be exactly what they’re going for, but I happen to love it. So, if that’s your thing, and you also enjoy the smell of citrus, you’ll love this one, too.
What the brand says:
- Key Notes: Orange zest, tart pink grapefruit, juicy mandarin, neroli
What I think:
- Key Notes: sparkling orange juice boiled down to almost a syrup, then mixed with the precise aura of someone who confidently wears white shirts without getting them dirty. And, of course, Jamba.
Disclaimer: some of the pages I’ve linked above are shoppable, but I’m not getting a commission or anything, and I have no affiliation with any of these brands. I chose those links because they’re the best source of information about each scent not because I need you to buy from them. It doesn’t matter to me either way.
My recommendation is, if you’re interested, you can pop by your beauty store of choice and give them a smell there for free. Last time I checked, both of these are available at Sephora.
So Ten Minutes Ago 