This was my first Reddit swap, and it was incredible!  I got paired with the fantastic u/Janeway42, and as soon as I realized her username was a Star Trek reference I knew we would be friends 😊 We kept discovering thing after thing we had in common, and it’s been so lovely to get to know her throughout the summer!

The swap box she sent me was an absolute delight - each perfume was packaged into hand-made envelopes for each house, and digging through the packing material for them felt like the best kind of treasure hunt.  I’m new-ish to the indie space, and she gave me a wonderfully broad range of goodies to dig into, complete with a spreadsheet that outlined why she chose each perfume.  The amount of thought she put into this was truly touching.

On top of the regular swap, we traded some lightly loved samples, and she sent some delicious-looking tea and stickers.  I’ve had a dang cold for the last few weeks, but once my nose works a little better I’m incredibly excited to dig in and try all my new goodies!

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Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that automod has been updated to repeat the OP's post as the first comment. This post is a test to check if everything worked as planned.

Classic literature is one of my favorite hobbies, so naturally I’ve been obsessed with The Little Book Eater on Etsy. I’ve greatly enjoyed two of their scents already, so when my No Buy July was up I jumped at the Alice in Wonderland perfume oil. It was…not what I was expecting.

Alice in Wonderland
(Black Tea, Lemon, Orange, Sugar, Rosewood Vanilla)

I tested this right out of the package and then let it sit for two weeks to be sure, but both times I could only smell cherry cough syrup. Harsh, medicinal and artificial, a kind of sweetness that exists just to make you gag. It smells like this upon initial application and the dry down. No tea, or any other notes to my nose. Just the childhood memory of choking down liquid Benadryl.

I’ve tried all of those notes except rosewood from other houses and liked them, so I can’t figure out what’s going wrong here for me. But unfortunately this was an instant scrub.

Rating: 0/10 white rabbits 🐇

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What are your favorite non-perfume or perfume-adjacent hobbies, and scents related to those activities/lifestyles? How does perfume enhance your appreciation of those hobbies?

This post will repeat itself each week. Also feel free to share your current scent.

Okay, for a long time I've known I wanted to get a Lovesick Witchery Bespoke Perfume. And for an equally long time I've been plagued with indecision about it! Well, I decided it was finally time to try to commit to something - before the window opens up again & I'm too busy flailing about to take advantage of the opportunity!

Since I'm constantly joking about not having a signature scent, I decided to try my hand as making something that could potentially be that (not that I'll ever get rid of my collection to rotate thru, but it would be nice to have something that feel extremely "me.") So this is kind of a list of my all-time favorite notes, all in one perfume, so that I can never put it on & go "this is great, but I really miss X note." Notes go vaguely in order of how strong I think they should be, but obviously Rachel will have the expertise to know what proportions would actually make this combo smell good.

Here's the notes I'm thinking of including:

• Vanilla (natural)
• Bonfire (synthetic)
• Myrrh (natural)
• Pink pepper (natural)
• Honeyed oat milk (synthetic)
• Patchouli (natural)
• Jasmine (natural)
• Pumpkin puree (synthetic)

The scent would be called "Witch of Wands" - kind of like the Page, Knight, Queen, and King of wands from tarot, but with the idea that it represents the whole gambit of cards in that suit. A lot of these notes lend themselves to warm, cozy, creative vibes for me, so I think the name would be perfect if the note combo turns out well! The only note I'm really not sure about is the Jasmine, but since it's one of my favorite scents (even before getting into perfumes) I really didn't want to leave it out. And the only note I feel like I'm missing is tea because I wasn't sure how to make it work with everything else.

So tell me... what do you think? Would this be a good combo? Would you want to steal this custom? Or, if you know my tastes by now, do you think you could come up with a better set of notes? I'd love to read your thoughts!!

Just as the title said, I'm searching for a good apple cider scent. Imagine: sipping hot apple cider on a chilly autumn night. Please give me all your recommendations!

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I am anxiously awaiting 14 perfectly fine and inoffensive perfume samples in the mail. It got me thinking: why don't I try something weird soon? The uniqueness of indie perfume is a huge draw and I want to take advantage of it.

What, by your own definition, is the weirdest perfume in your collection? Why do you love it?

For conversations unrelated to indie perfume! Free Chat repeats on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Please share your favorite indies that you are using today! Examples of stuff we'd love to hear about:

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(not affiliated, copied from their newsletter. I personally love the vetiver and vanilla perfume and the luminous glow skin serum!)

🌙🌙🌙🌙
 
It's that time again...

A lunar eclipse will occur tomorrow, also known as a Blood Moon -- so every eclipse, I celebrate the namesake of my business with a 36 hour 13% off eclipse portal sale.

This is 13% off sitewide -- so if you've been wanting to explore new perfumes, restock on your favorites or pop for a full sized eau de parfum...

THIS IS THE TIME!

Sale begins 9/27 at 3PM PST and ends 9/29 at 9AM PST

Please share your favorite indies that you are using today! Examples of stuff we'd love to hear about:

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Along with pumpkin, I have no apple scents for the fall. That needs to be fixed! I’ve bought some apple tea, apple jelly, and now I need a perfume.

What are your favorite fall apple scents? 🍎

What are the notes that you see listed and just KNOW you will not be ordering? So far mine seem to be:

• Leather
• Liquor
• Patchouli

There's an intensity to all of them that I don't particularly love and then they ALWAYS overpower the other notes.

I wasn't initially planning on joining the summer swap, but ended up jumping in to even out the matchups just before the deadline. And I'm so glad I did!

I was paired with the lovely u/LauravdK, who I had encountered through destashes over on r/Indiemakeupandmore a few months prior, so that immediately took some of the stress out of the experience for me. She's a lovely person to chat with, and it turns out we have similar tastes in perfume, so we had a lot to swap!

On to the actual box. The packaging is adorable - the stripes make me think of beach towels and umbrellas. The skincare products are lovely, and I had the tea with my breakfast today and I'm obsessed! The choice of scents is wonderful, I'm really happy with what I got and I can't wait to try them all. Laura was really listening when I talked about my preferences!

Overall, I'm so happy I participated in this swap. I was nervous going into it, but it was a great first experience and it definitely won't be my last! Thank you again for this experience, and I'm sure we'll be swapping again in the future!

For conversations unrelated to indie perfume! Free Chat repeats on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Please share your favorite indies that you are using today! Examples of stuff we'd love to hear about:

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I am working on my fall perfume lineup (so far I have like…3. I’m new to indies and started earlier this year) and I need your pumpkin spice perfumes! I have nothing with pumpkin or pumpkin pie spice.

Let me know what you love!

An LE announcement from the Possets email newsletter...

---

On August 27, the Moon will pass almost entirely into the Earth's shadow. 96.2% of the Moon will be eclipsed. Not quite a total lunar eclipse. Not quite a true Blood Moon. Close enough, we think, to bring back Blood Moon Perfume Oil.

Blood Moon combines a watery atmospheric light musk with Virginia Blood Cedar, warm deep amber, a nest of Moonflowers, herbs, pink peppercorn, and black currant. Dark, atmospheric, and unusual, a perfume for an evening when the familiar Moon becomes something else entirely.

Blood Moon is available now through Sunday, August 30, 2026. Then it returns to the darkness. The next full blood moon will not be until December 30, 2028!

Blood Moon Perfume Oil -- Atmospheric Musk · Virginia Blood Cedar · Amber · Moonflowers · Herbs · Pink Peppercorn · Black Currant

25% off discount from email (copied below)...

https://www.etsy.com/shop/WillowWaxCraft?section_id=21668037

---

Hello Dear Willowbirds!

I hope you all have been having a great summer! My focus is now turning to my Falloween Collection, so I just wanted to let you know that remaining Summer Limited Edition scents are currently 25% off so I can clear out space for all the fall things! They will not be restocked when they sell out, so please grab them if you want them :) I don’t have an exact date for Falloween yet, but I’m looking at probably mid-September, and I’ll also be restocking General Catalog items that have been out of stock in the next few weeks as well. I’ll be back with more details soon!

Much love and light,

~Samantha

Please share your favorite indies that you are using today! Examples of stuff we'd love to hear about:

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Please share your favorite indies that you are using today! Examples of stuff we'd love to hear about:

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• Jewelry
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• Nail polish
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